Mechanism for conveying and discharging lamp bulbs



May 14, 1929. I DE MADDEN fill-670 MECHANISM FOR CONVEYING AND DISCHARGING LAMP BULBS Filed May 10, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR HARRY D. MADDEN ATTORNEY May 14, 1929. H. DE F. MADDEN MECHANISM FOR CONVEYING AND DISCHARGING LAMP BULBS Filed May 10, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR HARRY D. MADDEN BY 'T/ K ATTORNEY Patented May 14, 1929.

UNITED .STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY DE FOREST MADDEN, OF MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR '10 WESTING- HQUSE LAMP COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

'MECHANISM FOR CONVEYING AND EISCHABGING LAMP BULBS.

Application filed Kay 10,

ranging the bulbs before and after opera-' tions have been performed thereon by the lamp-making machinery.

A certain amount of success has been attained in reducing the area of the floor space required by the lampanaking machines by combining lamp-making operations and ar-v ranging combinations of machines in a more eflective manner. Such arrangement of the machines -did not, however, reduce the amount of floorspace required by the delivery of bulbs to and from a machine. The supply and removal of bulbs to machines has heretofore always been accomplished by the use of racks or trays at the expense of a relatively large amount of room. A bulb tray as constructed in accordance with the accepted factory practice comprised a box-like structure having a wall or shelf provided with a plurality of symmetrically arranged perforations to receive and support a plurality of bulbs in a predetermined orderly arrangement. in order to provide an ample supply of bulbs for an operation, it was necessary to construct the trays of relatively large proportions and it is evident that trays 01E this character were bulky and occupied a considerable amount of valuable floor space. The same was true with respect to the removal of lamps from a machine since, owing to the limited number of bulbs which could be deposited in a rack, it was necessary to give time and efiort to the removal of filled I racks.

1926. Serial in. 107,834.

electric incandescent lamps or'lamp bulbs may, to a considerable extent, be handled in bulk without separation by supporting structure in the orderly arrangement on racks or trays as has previously been the practice. By reason of the above fact, I am able to provide an ordinary receptacle, such as a wooden box or other container, and fill the same hapha-zardly with lamp bulbs. With this promiscuous or unorderly disposition of the racks. Heretofore, it had been the practice and was thought to be essential for the operator to carefully place each lamp taken from a machine into an aperture of a rack in an orderly manner so that the lamps or bulbs would be separated from contact with each other. It has been found, however, that completed lamps or partially completed lamps, as, for example, the sealed-in evacuated bulbs after leaving the exhaust machine, may be discharged directly into a receptacle by means of amechanical device such as a conveyor, The bulbs may be deposited into a receptacle Without any particular arrangement until the receptacle is filled. The receptacle may then be removed, as in the case of exhausted bulbs, to another machine where the operator may feed the same for further operations to make complete lamps.

When discharging bulbs partially com? pleted or completed lamps from a machine, it has been found desirable. to employ what may betermed a balanced conveyor conveyor automatically conveys the bulbs to the receptacle and the end of the conveyor is initially disposed close to thebottom of the conveyor so asto deposit the lamps with a minimum amount of drop. The conveyor may be so constructed as to be readily mov- This able to lift its discharge end for adjustment to different positions thus keeping the same substantially flush with the upper surface of accumulated bulbs.

An object of the present invention is, therefore, to eliminate the use of the bulb trays as above described and to avoid the laborious and time-consuming operation of the orderly arrangement of the bulbs prior to or subsequent to the lamp-makin operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for the promiscuous delivery of bulbs to an operator and for the discharge of bulbs from a machine in a. haphazard or indiscriminate manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide for'the promiscuous delivery of bulbs to a receptacle in an expeditious and timesaving manner at a predetermined rate of speed. I

A further object of the invention is to provide mechanism operable to "deliver bulbs to a receptacle and adjustable in accordance with the accumulation of bulbs in the receptacle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which may be inserted into a receptacle for the delivery of bulbs-thereto and conveniently and easil adjusted to avoid contact with delivered bul s.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent as the description proceeds.

Although the present invention is shown applied to a lamp-making machine which.

seals the mount to the bulb, it is obvious that various applications of invention are possible, as, for example, in connection with other lamp-making mechanisms. The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sealing-in machine showing bulbs in position for application to the machine and the conveyor for discharging bulbs into a receptacle.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a device for tipping off the bulb after an exhausting operation.

As a practical embodiment of the invention, the same is illustrated and described as applied to a-combined sealing-in and exhaust machine.

The drawing shows a machine comprising a supporting frame 10 having a centrally disposed hub 11 provided with a rotatable shaft 12 upon which a carrier or conveyor 13 is secured for rotation with the shaft. The conveyor may be provided with a plurality of sealing-in heads 14 of any suitable type into which lamp mounts 15 and bulbs 16 are positioned in sealing-in relation. The sealing- 1n operation is performed by heating the neck portions of the bulbs by suitably disposed I flames 17 at difl'erent stages during the travel of the heads with the conveyor which is moved intermittently by mechanism to be presently described. Adjacent to and. in staggered relation to the sealing-in heads are provided exhaust apertures 18 to secure exhaust tubes 19 of bulbs. After the sealing-in operation is performed, a sealed-in bulb is transferred, by hand in the present machine, to an exhaust aperture into which the exhaust tube of the bulb is inserted, thus connecting the interior of the bulb with any well-known exhausting apparatus as may be provided with this type of machine; the drawing merely showing the exhaust apertures from which the bulb is tipped off and discharged from the machine.

The conveyor 13 may be rotated in a series of intermittent progressive movements and in the present machine, wherein 8 sealing-in heads and 8 exhaust positions are provided, the machine makes 8 intermittent movements during each complete revolution. The means for intermittently driving the conveyor may comprise a Geneva movement consisting of the usual slotted disc 21 which is secured to the lower end of the shaft 12 and a driving arm 22 having a pin 23 rotatable with a shaft 20 mounted in a suitable bearing on the under side of the frame 10. The pin 23 is so disposed as to enter slots 24 of the member 21 causing a partial revolution of the conveyor during a complete revolution of the driving arm 22. The Geneva movement may be operated from any suitable source of power (not shown) through a shaft 25 havin a worm 26 in mesh with a worm wheel 27. he worm wheel 27 may be secured to a horizontal shaft 28 which has secured thereto a spiral gear wheel 29 in mesh with a companion gear wheel 31 secured to the shaft 20. Motion is thus transferred to the conveyor and the continuous rotation of the driving shaft 25 will cause an intermittent rotary movement of the conveyor. It will be understood that during each stationary period of the conveyor, an operator, who may be stationed at the position indicated by X in Fig. l, removes a sealed lamp from a sealing-in head and inserts the exhaust tube thereof into an exhaust aperture 18. The lamp, having been previously disposed inv the machine for an exhausting operation and having been tipped oif, by mechanism to be presently described, is discharged from the machine. For the purpose of facilitating the handling of the bulbs, the present invention rovides a container 32 suitably supported a jacent to the machine and within easy reach of an operator.

'In accordance with the present invention, the bulbs 15 disposed promiscuously in the container, thus permitting the container to hold a relatively large quantity of bulbs with an economizing in floor space. The container 32 may be held in an inclined position so as'to permit the downward movement of onto a shelf 34', the aperture 33 serving to feed to the bulbs by reason of their potential energy for convenient removal by the operator. After a bulb has been removed from the container 32 and disposed in a sealing-in head in proper relation-to a mount, the bulb and mount are carried throu h a series of intermittent movements unti the sealing-in operation has been performed. The operator havin properly removed the sealed-in bulb and p aced it in an exhaust aperture adjacent to a sealing-in head from which the bulb was taken, it will be evident that the sealedin bulb is also carried through a circular path at which time the various exhaust operations were performed so that when the sealed-in bulb reaches the position Y (see Fig. 2) it is ready to be tipped oflf and discharged from the machine. y

The tipping off 0 ration may be performed in any suitab e manner and the pres-' ent machine provides as an example one type ofwhatistermed a tipping torch carried on a vertical rod 34. The tipping torch may comprise a burner 35 having oppositely disposed flames 36 ada' ted to be positioned around the exhaust tu 19 of a bulb when the sameispositionedintheexhausta erture. The flames 36 issue fromaconcave an ace of an are shaped manifold so that the exhaust tube of a bulb may be heated by oppositely disposed flames. An exhaust tube 19 is moved into position between the flames as the conveyor rotates, the conveyor bein operated in'timed relation to the tipping o mechanism so that the exhaust tube is heated to a plastic state and severed to seal up the bulb during a stationary period of the conveyor. The tipping torch is-prqvided with a rocker member 37 pivoted at 38 and having an end 40 of curved form so as to partially encircle a bulb and provided with s ring clips 39. The rocker arm is so dispose that when the bulb is moved to position for tipping off, it is engaged b the sprin clips 39 and when the exhaust tu of a bul has been released, the rocker member tips upwardly as shown in dotted lines in Fig.

3 and,discharges the bulb, the means for effectin this operation being more specifically.

descri d hereinafter.

. The tipping torch may be operated by connectionto the shaft 28 (see Fig. 1) which is provided with a bevel gear wheel 41in mesh with a gear wheel 42 at one end of a transversely disposed shaft 43. This shaft is provided with a bevel gear wheel 44 in mesh with a bevel ear 45 on a countershaft 46. The counters aft 46 as shown in Fig. 2 is provided with a cam member 47 enga cable with one arm48 of a lever-member 49 pivoted at 51 to a stationary portion of the machine and the vertical rod 34'which actuates the tipping torch is pivoted at its lower end at 52 to arm 53 of the lever-member 49. 1

The arm 48is provided with a weight s that the arm 53 will be normally urged upwardly to cause an 11 ward thrust of the rod 34. When a lamp 1S initially disposed in the clips 39 of the rocker member 37, the cam 47 is by reason of the timed relation of the operating parts of the machine, engaged with the arm 48 of the lever-member 49. The action of the weight 50 is thus removed as the tipping torch is being held in position to receive the exhaust tube of a bulb. As soon as the rocker member 37- engages a bulb, the cam 47, which continues to move, releases the arm 48 so that the weight 50 may be effective to impart a pull upon the exhaust tube. As the fires soften the exhaust tube, the bulb is lifted, by reason of the weight 50, and the tipping ofi' operation completed. For the purpose of efiecting a discharge of the tipped off lamp, the rocker arm 37 is provided with an extension 55 which engages with a 'stop 56 ona fixed post 57.

It wil-l be evident that inasmuch as the stop 56 is immovable, an upward movement of the tipping torch'will cause the bracket 37 to rock and discharge the bulb. In order to provide a resilient engagement between the rocker arm 37 and a bulb, the extension 55 is connected to a projection 58 on a relatively immovable portion of the tipping torch by a spring 59. After a lamp has been discharged, the severed portion 61 of the exhaust tube remains in the aperture and is removed by hand b the operator before a plying the-exhaust tu e of another lamp to the aperture. From the foregoing,'the operation of applying bulbs to the sealing-in machine, transferring the bulbs to the exhaust ports and the discharge of the bulb from the exhaust ports will be readily understood. Although the machine shownis more or less diagrammatic, it serves to illustrate one type of apparatus to which the present invention may be applied. The present invention broadly relates to the promiscuous handling of bulbs in genera] but it is particularly im ortant in connection with the discharge 0 fragile bodies such as lamp bulbs from a machine.

When a sealed off bulb is discharged from the tipping torch, it is permitted to roll or slide over an inclined guide 62 and on to a ,conveyor 63 which is movable to carry the bulb at a predetermined rate of speed and de posit the same in a suitably positioned con-. tainer 64. The conveyor may comprise a pair of side plates 65 having shafts 66 and 67 ou'rnalled in opposite ends thereon. The

shafts may be provided with rollers 68 and 69 respectively to drive an apron or endless belt 71. The belt may be any suitable flexible material such, for example, as canvas and may be provided with flaps or partial pockets 72 in spaced relation so as to prevent bulbs from sliding downwardly along the moving belt. As the lamps are discharged into the container 64 and accumulated at the bottom thereof, it has been found advantageous to change the position of the discharge end of the conveyor by raising the same to accommodate the rising level of the accumulated bulbs. The present invention not only provides a conveyor which may be maintained with its discharge end properly positioned, but one wherein it is possible to prevent the discharge end of the conveyor from resting to any appreciable degree upon the discharged bulbs. For the purpose of accomplishing the above, the present mechanism provides what may be termed a balanced conveyor. The machine elements for balancing the discharge of the conveyor may comprise an arm 7 3 secured to one of the plates 65 of the conveyor and having a weight 74 attached to an end thereof. The arm may be provided with notches 75 so that the weight may be adjusted to vary the levera e thereof as necessary to attain the proper ba ance of the discharge end of the conveyor. The conveyor as a whole is rockable about the shaft 67 and may be so balanced that a slight movement by means of a handle 76 will serve to change the position of the conveyor which may be balanced so that it will stand in various positions owing to the inherent friction of the parts as, for example, the side plates 65 which may be in slight frictional engagement with bracket plates 77 which serve as supporting bearings for the shaft 67 and are secured to the frame of the machine by bolts 78. The shaft 67 which acts as a pivot point for the conveyor may be rotatable and provided with a grooved pulley 79 connected by an endless belt 81 to a pulley 82 rotatable with the shaft 46 which is driven as hereinbefore described by its connection to the driving shaft 25.

In operating a machine provided with the present invention, it is only necessary to supply a container such as 32 having a quantity of promiscuously deposited lamp bulbs or blanks therein. The machine may be set in operation with the discharge end of the conveyor 63 disposed in a container 64. The operator in starting the machine fills each sealing-in head with a mount andbulb until all the heads have been filled at which time the initially loaded head will contain a bulb sealed to a mount. The operator then removes the sealed bulb, supplying the head with a new mount and bulb, and also deposits the sealed bulb into an exhaust aperture. This operation is repeated for another cycle of the conveyor at which time an exhausted bulb is moved into operative elation to the tipping torch which automaticilly discharges the exhausted bulb from the machine. The conveyor which receives the exhausted bulb from the guide 62 operates to carry the bulb downwardly and deposits the same on to the bottom of the container 64. The free end of the bulb discharging conveyor may be in close relation to the bottom of the container and the bulbs have but a short distance to drop. Although the inclination of the conveyor may vary as the container 64 becomes filled, the rate of discharge of the bulbs will be the same since each bulb is carried at a given rate of speed independent of the inclination of the conveyor. \Vhen the container has become filled, the same may be removed and an empty receptacle substituted while the machine is in operation.

The great saving in floor space by reason of supplying bulbs in an unsymmetrical manner as well as the saving in time over the unsymmetrical disposition of exhausted bulbs makes the invention a valuable contribution to the lamp-making industry since it produces a new and unforeseen result which tends to reduce the cost of lamps and to increase their rate of production.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention described is shown herein, it is to be understood the invention is not restricted to the precise machine shown and described and that modifications may be made therein which fall within the spirit and scope of the invention set forth inthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A lamp-making machine comprising a bulb carrier, bulb supporting means disposed in spaced relation on said carrier, a conveyor having one end pivoted adjacent to said carrier, the opposite discharge end of said conveyor being movable and means for balancing said discharge end to adapt the same for adjustment to different positions.

2. A lamp-makingmachine comprising a bulb carrier, bulb supporting means disposed in spaced relation on said carrier, a conveyor having one end pivoted adjacent to said carrier, the opposite discharge end of said conveyor being movable, means for balancing said discharge end to adapt the same for adjustment to different positions, and means for actuating said conveyor for discharging bulbs at a predetermined rate of speed.

3. A lamp-making machine comprising a carrier, supports for lamps in spaced relation on said carrier, a conveyor having the receiving end-thereof mounted on a pivot stationary with respect to the conveyor, the discharge end of the conveyor being movable and means for balancing the said discharge end of the conveyor.

4. A lamp-making machine comprising a carrier, supports for lamps in spaced relation on said carrier, a conveyor having the receiving end thereof mounted on a pivot stationary with respect to the conveyor, the discharge end of the conveyor being movable, means for balancing the said discharge end of the conveyor, and means for actuating said conveyor for the discharge of lamps therefrom at a predetermined rate. of speed.

5. machine for handling fragile articles comprising supporting means for said 4 articles, a container to receive articles, a concontact between the free end of said conveyor veyor having one end disposed for the deand the fragile articles as the said articles livery of articles to said container, means for accumulate. 10 discharging articles from said supporting In testimony whereofllhave hereunto sub- 5 means to said conveyor and means for counscribed my name this 7th day of May, 1926.

terbalancing said conveyor in adj ustable relation to said container to avoid detrimental HARRY DE FOREST MADDEN. 

